\     r~"^''^1 


American  Anthropology 


Disproving  the 


Book   of   Mormon. 


CHARLES  A.  SHOOK. 


"The  calling  into  ^question  of  doctrines  and  dogmas, 
wrong  or  inapplicable'  is  the  intellectual  right  of  all  men, 
sanctioned  bj'  our  great  exemplar  from  the  heavens." — 
Elder  S.  W.  L.  Scott,  of  the  Reorganised  or  Josephite 
Mormon    body. 


CONTENTS: 

I.  The  Early  Americans  were  Not  White 4. 

n.      "        "  "  were  Not  of  the  Lost  Tribes ....  5. 

in.      "        "  "  were  "Stone  Age"  People 7. 

IV.      "        "  "  Had  No  Iron  or  Steel 8. 

V.     "        "  "  were  only  Advanced  Savages.  .  ,9. 

VI.      "        "  "  were  American  Indians II. 

IVII.     "        "  "  Migrated  South  instead  of  North  1 2. 

'III.     "        "  **  were  Never  Exterminated 13. 

IX.     "        "  "  Did  Not  Speak  Hebrew    15. 

X.  The  Ancient  Civilization  Not  Imported 17. 

XI.  The  Ancient  Language  Not  even  Like  Egyptian 17. 

I XII.  The  Ancient  People  had  no  "Great  Spirit" 19. 

Conclusion; 20. 


THE  UTAH  GOSPEL  MISSION, 

Cleveland,  O. 


[First  Edition,  1916. 


■m 


From  Professor  G.  Frederick  Wright,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  editor 
Bibliotheca  Sacra,  and  original  investigator  and  writer  on  pre- 
historic man  and  allied  subjects; 

Oberlin,   Ohio,  March  8,   1916. 

I  thank  you  for  the  reading,  of  Shook's  "American  Anthro- 
pology Disproving  the  Book  of  Mormon."  The  positions  which 
he  defends  are  correct,  and  his  evidence  unanswerable.  My 
prolonged  investigations  concerning  glacial  man  and  the  Mound 
Builders  fully  sustain  all  the  statements  made  by  jNIr.  Shook. 
The  Mormon  claims  for  archaeological  support  are  made  without 
any  regard  to  the  facts.  G.    Frederick  Wright. 

ABOUT  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON. 

"This  book  must  be  either  true  or  false.  *  *  *  jf  false, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  cunning,  wicked,  bold,  deep-laid  impositions 
ever  palmed  upon  the  world,  calculated  to  deceive  and  ruin 
millions  who  will  sincerely  receive  it  as  the  word  of  God." — ■ 
Divine  Authority  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  by  Apostle  Orson 
Pratt:  Introduction,   1851. 

VERY    IMPORTANT    BIBLE   WARNINGS. 

"Beware  of  false  prophets,  who  come  to  you  in  sheep's  cloth- 
ing,  but   inwardly   are   ravening   wolves." — Matthew    7:15. 

"For  there  shall  arise  false  Christs,  and  false  prophets,  and 
shall  show  great  signs  and  wonders;  so  as  to  h-ad  astray,  if 
possible,    even   the   elect." — Matt.    24;  24. 

BOOKS,  BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 

Cumorah  Revisited,  or  the  Book  of  Tvlormon  and  the  Claims 
of  the  Mormons  Re-Examined  from  the  \'iewpoint  of  American 
Archaeology   and   Ethnology. 

This  is  a  work  of  589  pages,  by  Charles  A.  Shook.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  author  is  to  show  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  false 
in  its  historical  claims  and  in  its  descriptions  of  the  race,  re- 
ligion, arts,  customs  and  civilization  of  the  ancient  Americans 
and,  hence,  cannot  be  accepted  as  from  God.  Such  subjects 
as  the  Jewish  descent  of  the  American  Indians,  the  nationality 
of  the  "Mound  Builders"  and  "Cliff  Dwellers"  and  the  ciiaracter 
of  ancient  American  writing  are  fully  considered.  With  the 
consideration  of  these  subjects,  a  full  exposure  of  the  Mormon 
"collateral  evidences,"  the  notorious  "Kinderhook  Plates"  and 
the  "Newark  Tablets,"  is  given.  An  Appendix  is  added  in 
which  special  attention  is  paid  to  the  bogus  "^lichigan  Relics 
which  have  attracted  considerable  attention  of  late  and  which 
in  a  number  of  instances  have  been  held  up  as  proof  of  the 
claims  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Perhaps  no  stronger  work 
against  the  historical  claims  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  has  ever 
been    written.      Cloth,    price $1.50 

The  True  Origin  of  Mormon  Polygamy.  By  Charles  A.  Shook. 
A  keen  presentation  of  tlie  fact;^.  with  affidavits,  which  show 
beyond  successful  contradiction  that  INIormon  polygamy  orgi- 
nated  with  Joseph  Smith,  and  was  to  cover  up  his  own  wrong- 
doing before  he  claimed  to  have  had  any  "revelation;  hence 
the  untruth  of  both  the  Tosephite  and  Brighamite  claims  regard- 
ing  him.     Cloth,  213  pages,  illustrated $1-^ 

The  True  Origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  By  Charles  A. 
Shook.  This  book  contains  187  pages  of  the  best  embodiment 
of  the  general  facts,  rare  documents,  afifidavits,  etc.,  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  that  we  have  ever  seen;  includ- 
ing Oliver  Cowdery's  tract  giving  his  reasons  for  leaving  the 
eystem   and   concluding   it   a    hoax.      Cloth,    illustrated $1.00 

For  copies  of  the  above,  and  also  for  this  and  other  tracts 
on   Mormonism,    enclose   the   price   to  „^^^„^ 

THE   UTAH   GOSPEL   MISSION,  ,     ^,  . 

1854    E.    81st    Street,     Cleveland,    Ohio. 

The  price  of  this  tract  is  five  cents,  postpaid;  ten  for  30 
cents;    100   for  $2.50. 


American  Anthropology 
Disproving  the    Book  of    Mormon. 

BY  CHARLES  A.  SHOOK. 


There  are  two  theories  upon  which  all  of  the  sects  of  Mor- 
monism  have  been  agreed:  that  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  was  a 
prophet  of  God,  and  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  an  inspired 
and  credible  history  of  ancient  America.  While  the  entirely 
human  character  of  this  book  has  already  been  proved  in  various 
ways,  the  careful  comparison  in  the  following  pages  of  its  state- 
ments concerning  the  early  history  of  man  upon  this  continent 
with  the  facts  known  to  science  is  especially  interesting  and 
convincing.  Such  titles  as  "1  Nephi,"  "2  Nephi,"  "Helaman," 
"Alma,"  "Ether"  and  "Mormon,"  which  appear,  are  the  names 
of  books  in  the  Book  of  Mormon.  The  figures  which  follow 
them,  marked  (J)  and  (B),  are,  respectively,  the  chapter  and 
paragraph  references  to  the  Josephite  and  Brighamite  editions 
of  that  book.  The  references  are  to  the  1913  edition  of  the 
Josephite  Book  of  Mormon,  and  to  the   1888  Utah   edition. 


The  Book  of  Mormon  claims  to  be  the  inspired  his- 
tory of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America  and  of  God's 
dealings  with  them.  It  is  said  to  have  been  written 
upon  gold  plates  and  to  have  been  deposited  in  "Hill 
Cumorah,"  in  Western  New  York,  in  the  year  420 
A.  D.,  from  whence  it  was  taken  by  Joseph  Smith, 
under  the  direction  of  the  angel  Moroni,  on  September 
22,  1827,  and  was  afterwards  traslated  by  him  miracu- 
lously, through  the  Urim  and  Thummim. 

According  to  the  Book  of  Mormon,  the  first  inhabi- 
tants of  America  were  the  Jaredites,  who  came  to 
Central  America  from  the  Tower  of  Babel  about  five 
hundred  years  after  the  flood,  and  who  continued  until 
about  600  B.  C,  when  they  were  exterminated  in  a  civil 
war.  The  second  colony  was  a  company  of  Jews  who 
came  to  Peru  about  the  time  of  the  Jaredite  extermina- 
tion. This  colony,  after  its  arrival,  divided  into  two 
factions,  the  Nephites  and  Lamanites ;  the  first  continu- 
ing until  about  400  A.  D.,  when  they  were  exterminated 
by  the  other  faction,  the  Lamanites,  who  have  continued 
down  to  our  time  as  the  American  Indians. 

Mormonism  makes  its  boast  that  the  historical  claims 
of  the  Book  of  Mormon  have  been,  and  are  being,  fully 
substantiated  by  American  archaeological  and  ethno- 
logical research,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  following  quota- 
tions from  Mormon  authors,  both  Josephite  and 
Brighamite: 


4 

The  historical  accounts  recorded  in  the  book  are  being  rapidly 
substantiated  by  American  archaeological  research. — Opinions  of 
Sirty-fize  Leading  Ministers  and  Bible  Commentators:  C.  J. 
Hunt,  (J),  pp.  3,  4. 

The  students  of  American  antiquities  will  find  upon  a  careful 
examination  that  no  discovery  has  thus  far  been  made  which 
in  a  single  instance  contradicts  the  record  of  America's  great 
and  glorious  past,  as  found  in  the  Book  of  Mormon. — The  Book 
Unsealed:    R.  Etzenhoiiser,   (J),  p.   78. 

The  Latter-day  Saints  base  their  belief  in  the  authenticity  and 
genuineness  of  the  book  on  the  following  proofs:  *  *  *  The 
strongly  corroborative  evidence  furnished  by  modern  discoveries 
in  the  field  of  archaeological  and  ethnological  science. — Two 
Lectures;     J.  E.  Talmage,  (B),  p.  22. 

It  is  our  purpose  in  these  pages  to  expose  the  falsity 
of  this  claim  and,  by  the  latest  and  most  authoritative 
works  on  American  archaeology,  to  show  that  the  Book 
of  Mormon  is  a  false  history,  untrue  in  its  descriptions 
of  the  race,  culture,  arts,  religions,  habits  and  customs 
of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  this  continent ;  and  hence 
impossible  to  be  regarded  as  inspired  except  where  it 
quotes  from  the  Bible. 


ERROR  I.    THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  TEACHES  THAT  THE 

ANCIENT      INHABITANTS      OF      THIS      CONTINENT 

WERE  OF  THE  WHITE  RACE;  THE  OLDEST  SKULLS 

AND   BONES   THAT   HAVE   BEEN    FOUND— SOME   OF 

WHICH     DATE     BACK    NEARLY    TO     THE    GLACIAL 

PERIOD— SHOW     THAT     THEY     WERE     IDENTICAL 

WITH  THE  PRESENT  AMERICAN  RACE. 

And  he  had  caused  the  cursing  to  come   upon  them,  yea  even 

a   sore   cursing   because   of   their   iniquity.      For   behold,    they   had 

hardened    their    hearts    against    him,    that    they    had    become    like 

unto   a  flint;    wherefore,   as   they   were   white,   and   exceeding   fair 

and  delightsome,   that  they  might  not  be  enticing  unto  my  people, 

the  Lord  God  did  cause  a  skin  of  blackness  to  come  upon  them. 

—2  Nephi;  4:33-35   (J),  V:21    (B). 

This  is  the  Book  of  Alormon  account  of  the  origin 
of  the  Indian  race,  which  is  declared  to  have  occurred 
since  600  B.  C.  and  to  have  been  produced  by  a  miracle. 
But  Indian  bones  and  skulls  have  been  found  in  deposits 
which  date  farther  back  than  that.  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton, 
one  time  Professor  of  American  Archaeology  and 
Linguistics  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  says  of 
certain  skulls  found  in  different  parts  of  the  American 
continent : 

All  these  are  credited  with  an  antiquity  going  back  nearSy 
to  the  close  of  the  last  glacial  period,  and  are  the  oldest  yet 
found  on  the  continent.  They  prove  to  be  strictly  analogous  to 
those  of  the  Indians  of  the  present  day. — The  American  Race, 
p.  36. 


He  also  gives  the  following  conclusion  of  the  cele- 
brated Swiss  anatomist,  Dr.  J.  KoUman : 

The  variety  of  man  In  America  at  the  close  of  the  glacial 
period  had  the  same  facial  form  as  the  Indian  of  today;  and 
the  racial  traits  which  distinguish  him  now,  did  also  at  that  time. 

From  this,  Dr.  Brinton  draws  the  following  conclu- 
sion : 

These  very  ancient  remains  prove  that  in  all  important 
craniologic  indicia  the  earliest  Americans,  those  who  were 
contemporaries  of  the  fossil  horse  and  other  long  since  extinct 
quadrupeds,  possessed  the  same  racial  character  as  the  natives 
of  the  present  day,  with  similar  skulls  and  a  like  physiognomy. 
We  reach,  therefore,  the  momentous  conclusion  that  the  Ameri- 
can race  throughout  the  whole  continent,  and  from  its  earliest 
appearance  in  time,  is  and  has  been  one,  as  distinct  in  type  as 
any  other  race,  and  from  its  isolation  probably  the  purest  of  all 
in  its  racial  traits — Essays  of  an  Americanist,  p.  40. 

Bancroft  remarks  on  certain  remains  taken  from  the 
ancient  sepulchres  of  Ticul,  Yucatan : 

The  skeletons  and  skulls  dug  up  at  Ticul  were  pronounced 
by  Dr.  Morton  to  belong  to  the  universal  American  type. — Na- 
tive  Races,    Vol.    4,   p.   282. 

While  on  the  mortuary  remains  of  the  mound  builders, 
he  says : 

Very  few  skulls  or  bones  are  recovered  sufficiently  entire  to 
give  any  idea  of  the  Mound-builders'  physique,  and  these  few 
show  no  clearly  defined  differences  from  the  modern  Indian 
tribes. — Native   Races,    Vol.   4,  p.    71 S. 

If  the  ancient  Americans  were  of  the  white  race, 
absolutely  no  craniological  or  osteological  proofs  of  it 
have  ever  been  found. 


ERROR    II.      THE    BOOK    OF   MORMON    TEACHES    THAT 

THE    AMERICAN    INDIANS    ARE    DESCENDENTS    OF 

THE     CHILDREN     OF     ISRAEL;     ANTHROPOLOGICAL 

RESEARCH   HAS   MADE   IT   NECESSARY   FOR   US   TO 

REJECT  THIS  DERIVATION  THEORY. 

Wherefore,    it    is    an    abridgment    of   the    record    of   the    people 

of  TSTephi,   and   also   of   the   Lamanites;   written   to   the   Lamanites, 

who   are   a   remnant   of   the   house    of   Israel.— Soofe    of  Mormon; 

Preface   (J),  title  page  (B). 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  my  father  Lehi  also  found  upon  the 
plates  of  brass  a  genealogy  of  his  fathers;  wherefore  he  knew 
that  he  was  a  descendent  of  Joseph;  yea,  even  that  Joseph,  who 
was  the  son  of  Jacob,  who  was  sold  into  Egypt.— 1  Nepln;  1: 
164-5   (J),  V:14  (B). 

At  the  time  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  was  first  pub- 
lished (1830),  the  theory  of  the  Jewish  descent  of  the 
American  Indians  was  held  by  a  number  of  prominent 
students.  Prior  to  this  time,  it  had  been  advocated  by 
such    writers    as    Beatty,    Smith,    Adair,    Boudmot    and 


6 

Priest,  and  after  its  appearance,  it  had  at  least  one 
illustrious  defender,  Lord  Kingsborough,  whose  work, 
"Mexican  Antiquities,"  was  published  between  the  years 
1831-48.  Kingsborough,  after  returning  to  Europe,  was 
imprisoned  in  Dublin  jail  for  debt,  where  he  died,  and 
with  him  died  his  theory;  for  so  fanciful  are  his  proofs 
that  his  view  has  not  appealed  to  any  writer  of  promi- 
nence since.  Here  are  some  authoritative  quotations  on 
this  point: 

As  for  the  Lost-Tribes-of-Israel  theory,  on  which  Kingsborough 
was  wrecked,  no  archaeologist  of  to-day  would  be  willing  to  give 
it  a  second  thought. — North  Americans  of  Yesterday;  (Dellen- 
baugh)    p.    429. 

The  wildest  as  well  as  the  most  diverse  hypotheses  were 
brought  forward  and  defended  with  great  display  of  erudition. 
One  of  the  most  curious  was  that  which  advanced  the  notion 
that  the  Americans  were  the  descendents  of  the  ten  "lost  tribes 
of  Israel."  No  one,  at  present,  would  acknowledge  himself  "a 
believer  in  this  theory;  but  it  has  not  proved  useless,  as  we 
owe  to  it  the  publication  of  several  most  valuable  works. — TJie 
American   Race;    (Brinton),   p.    18. 

One  of  these  theories  is  (or  was),  that  the  original  civilizers 
of  ^Mexico  and  Central  America  were  the  "lost  ten  tribes  of 
Israel."  This  extremely  remarkable  explanation  of  the  mystery 
was  devised  very  early,  and  it  has  been  persistently  defended 
by  some  persons,  although  nothing  can  be  more  unwarranted  or 
more  absurd.  *  *  *  This  wild  notion,  called  a  theory, 
scarcely  deserves  so  much  attention.  It  is  a  lunatic  fancy,  pos- 
sible only  to  men  of  a  certain  class,  which  in  our  time  does  not 
multiply. — Ancient  America;   (Baldwin),   pp.    166,   167. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  modifies  this  theory  somewhat, 
however,  and  claims  that  the  Nephites  and  Lamanitcs 
were  not  only  descendants  of  some  of  the  ten  tribes, 
but  also  of  the  house  of  Judah.  Lehi  is  said  to  have 
been  a  descendant  of  Manasseh,  while  Mulek,  who  led 
a  colony  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  about  the  time  that 
Lehi  came  to  Peru,  was  a  son  of  Zedekiah,  hence  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah.  But  this  theory  stands  no  better  show 
than  the  other,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following: 

But  all  such  theories  of  the  origin  of  the  American  races 
from  an  Israclitish  stock,  or  from  a  Cymric  or  a  Gaelic,  may 
be  safely  dismissed  as  the  fruits  of  misguided  enthusiasm  and 
perverted  ingenuity. — Ancient  Cities  of  the  Nezv  World;  (Char- 
nay),   Introduction    by   Rice. 

In  a  letter  to  Rev.  S.  W.  Traum,  of  Richmond,  In- 
diana, dated  June  17,  1905,  W.  H.  Holmes,  chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion, Washington,  D.  C,  says: 

I  may  say  briefly  that  at  the  present  time  no  scientific  eth- 
nclcgist   for   a   moment    entertains   the   notion   that   the    American 


Indian  is  descended  from  the  Jew,  or  has  a  trace  of  the  lost 
tribes  in  his  veins,  unless  acquired  in  very  recent  years.  The 
American  race  stands  alone,  the  result  of  a  long  period  of  de- 
velopment, a  period  which  might  be  represented  by  tens  of 
thousands  gather  than  thousands  of  years.  If  the  Indian  of 
today  can  be  traced  beyond  the  Western  Continent,  he  will  be 
found  to  connect  most  directly  with  the  peoples  of  eastern 
Asia,  as  he  is  undoubtedly  more  closely  allied  to  the  Mongolian 
race  than  to  any  other. — Mor monism  Against  Itself,  p.   107. 

The  analogies  between  the  Indians  and  the  Jews,  in 
habit,  custom  and  rite,  which  have  been  presented  by 
the  Mormons  to  prove  their  theory,  are  ridiculous 
fancies.  They  are  fully  exposed  in  my  "Cumorah  Re- 
visited," Chapter  IV.  (See  notice  on  page  2  of  this 
booklet. 


ERROR   III.     THE   BOOK    OF  MORMON   TEACHES   THAT 
THE     FIRST     IMMIGRANTS     TO     THIS     CONTINENT 
WERE     CIVILZED     MEN;     ANTHROPOLOGICAL     RE- 
SEARCH HAS  PROVED  CONCLUSIVELY  THAT  THEY 
WERE  OF  THE   STONE  AGE. 
According  to  the  Book  of  Ether  (one  of  the  divisions 
of  the  Book  of  Mormon),  the  Jaredites  were  a  highly 
civilized    people,    possessing   the   arts    of    writing,    boat 
building  and   working   in   the   metals ;   worshipping  the 
true  God,  and  having  large  flocks  and  herds.     In  har- 
mony with  this  account,  Apostle  W.  H.  Kelley  (Joseph- 
ite)   says: 

In  the  "Book  of  Mormon"  we  are  informed  that  upwards  of 
twenty  centuries  before  the  birth  of  the  Saviour  (at  the  fall 
of  Babel  and  the  confusion  of  tongues)  there  came  a  colony 
out  from  this  old  Cushite  civilization,  under  divine  guidance, 
to  the  land  of  America.  They  were  called  Jaredites,  and  they 
brought  with  them  the  civilization,  the  arts,  sciences,  habits, 
customs,  traditions,  and  language  of  their  day  and  time. — Presi- 
dency  and  Priesthood,   (J)   pp.   257,    258. 

But  this  is  a  dream  that  scientific  men  do  not  indulge 
in.  American  anthropology  has  fully  demonstrated  that 
the  first  Americans  were  mere  chippers  of  stone  and 
not  civilized  Cushites  from  the  Tower  of  Babel.  Israel 
Cooke  Russell,  professor  of  Geology  in  the  University 
of  Michigan,  says  on  this  point : 

The  generally  accepted  conclusion  in  reference  to  the  origin 
of  the  American  aborigines  seems  to  be  that  man  reached  this 
continent  while  the  peoples  of  the  Old  World  were  yet  in  a 
primitive  condition,  and  at  a  time  when  the  highest  stage  of 
culture  was  expressed  by  the  knife  and  spear-point  of  chipped 
stone,  and  developed  independently,  in  accord  with  the  natural 
conditions  with  which  he  was  surrounded. — North  America,  p, 
356. 

Major  J.   W.    Powell,   formerly  chief   of  the    Smith- 


sonian  Institution,  as  quoted  by  this  author    (p.  357), 
?ays : 

Thus  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that  the  occupancy  of  America 
by  mankind  was  anterior  to  the  developement  of  arts,  industries, 
institutions,  languages  and  opinions;  that  the  primordial  occu- 
pancy of  the  continent  antedates  present  geographical  conditions, 
and  points  to  a  remote  time  which  can  be  discovered  only  on 
geological  and  biological  investigation. 

Other  scientific  men  write  as  follows  : 

At  an  epoch  not  far  distant,  men,  probably  derived  from  the 
same  source,  made  their  appearance  in  the  New  World,  wander- 
ing on  the  shores  of  either  ocean.  Like  their  nomad  contem- 
poraries of  the  other  hemisphere,  they  knew  no  shelter  save  that 
afforded  by  nature  in  her  forests  and  rocks.  Rudely  shaped 
stones  served  them  alike  for  tools  and  weapons  and  their  social 
condition  was  parajleled  by  that  known  for  their  European  con- 
temporaries under  the  name  of  the  Stone  age. — Prehistoric 
America;    (Nadaillac),  Preface. 

It  seems  that  the  Amerindian  race,  while  originally  composed 
of  different  elements,  was,  as  a  body,  separated  from  the  other 
peoples  of  the  world,  at  a  remote  epoch,  and  by  peculiar  cli- 
matic and  geographic  influences,  welded  into  an  ethnic  unity, 
which  was  unimpressed  by  outside  influences  till  modern  times. — 
North    Americans    of    Yesterday;    (DcUcnbaugh) ,    p.    458. 


ERROR    IV.      The    BOOK    OF    MORMON    TEACHES    THAT- 
THE  ANCIENT   AMERICANS   MANUFACTURED   IRON 
AND    STEEL    TOOLS;    SCIENTIFIC    INVESTIGATION 
HAS    PROVED    CONCLUSIVELY    THAT    THE    MANU- 
FACTURE     OF      IRON      AND      STEEL     TOOLS      WAS 
WLtOLLY  UNKNOWN   TO   THE  ANCIENT   AMERICAN 
PEOPLES. 
And  they  did   work  in   all  manner   of  ore,   and    they  did  make 
gold,   and  silver,   and  iron,   and  brass,   and  all   manner   of  metals. 
—Ether;  4:71   (J),  X:23  (B). 

And  I  did  teach  my  people  to  build  buildings:  and  to  work 
in  all  manner  of  wood,  and  of  iron,  and  of  copper,  and  of 
brass,  and  of  steel,  and  of  gold,  and  of  silver,  and  of  precious 
ores,  which  were  in  great  abundance. — 2  Nephi;  4:21  (J),  F:15, 
(■B). 

In  opposition  to  these  pretended  historical  statements, 
I  submit  the  following : 

Iron,  we  repeat,  was  absolutely  unknown;  nowhere  do  we  find 
it  mentioned,  and  nowhere  do  we  meet  with  the  characteristic 
rust  which  is  the  undeniable  proof  of  its  presence. — Prehistoric 
America;   (Nadaillac),  p.  378. 

The  use  of  iron  as  a  metal  was  unknown  In  America  previous 
to  the  discovery  by  Columbus. — American  Archaeology ;  (Thomas), 
p.   11. 

So  far  no  prehistoric  iron  has  been  found  in  the  ruins  of 
Yucatan. — North  Americans  of  Yesterday;  (Dellenbaugh),  p.  81. 
No  implement  of  iron  has  been  found  in  connection  with  the 
ancient  civilizations  of  American.  The  Mound-builders,  as  we 
have  seen,  wrought  as  a  stone,  the  rich  specular  ores  of  Mis- 
souri,  into   various   instruments,   which  they   ground   and  polished 


9 

with  elaborate  care,  little  conscious  that  the  same  material, 
subjected  to  a  high  heat,  could  be  cast  into  any  required  form, 
and  converted  into  much  more  efficient  weapons. — Prehistoric 
Races  of   the   United  States;   (Foster),  p.   333. 

That  iron  and  steel  were  not  used  for  cutting  implements, 
is  clearly  proved  by  the  fact  that  hard,  flinty  spots  in  the  soft 
stone  of  the  statues  are  left  uncut,  in  some  instances  where 
they  interfere  with  the  details  of  the  sculpture. — Native  Races 
of  the  Pacific  States;   (Bancroft),   Vol.   4,  p.   102. 

The  implements  of  iron  and  steel  that  have  been 
found  in  some  of  the  mounds  and  other  ancient  works 
are  proved  to  be  of  post-Columbian  workmanship  and 
so,  instead  of  proving  the  high  culture  of  the  ancient 
Americans,  they  establish  the  recent  construction  of 
these  antiquities. 


ERROR    V.      THE    BOOK    OF    MORMON    TEACHES    THAT 
THE     ANCIENT     INHABITANTS     OF     THE     UNITED 
STATES     WERE     HIGHLY     CIVILIZED;     ANTHROPO- 
LOGICAL    RESEARCH     HAS     PROVED     THAT     THEY 
HAD     REACHED     ONLY     THE     UPPER     STATUS     OF 
SAVAGERY. 
And   the   whole   face   of   the   land   northward   was   covered   with 
inhabitants;    and   they   were   exceeding   industrious,   and   they    did 
buy   and   sell,    and   traffic    one   with    another,    that   they   might    get 
gain.      And   they   did   work    in    all   manner    of    ore,    and   they   did 
make   gold,    and   silver,    and   iron,    and   brass,   and    all   manner   of 
metals;    and    they    did    dig    it    out    of    the    earth;    wherefore    they 
did   cast   up   mighty   heaps   of   earth   to    get   ore,    of   gold,    and    of 
silver,    and    of    iron,    and    of    copper.      And    they    did    work    all 
manner  of   fine  work.      And  they  did  have  silks,   and  fine   twined 
linen;    and   they   did   work   all   manner   of   cloth,   that   they   might 
clothe   themselves   from   their  nakedness.      And   they  did   make  all 
manner    of   tools   to    till   the    earth,    both    to    plough,    and   to    sow, 
and  to  reap,  and  to  hoe,  and  also  to  thrash.     And  they  did  make 
all    manner    of    tools    with    which    they    did    work    their    beasts. 
And   they   did   make   all   manner   of   weapons    of   war.      And   they 
did    work    all    manner    of    work    of    exceeding    curious    workman- 
ship.—£f/z^r;  4:70  (J),  X:22-27.  (B). 

The  Josephite  Committee  on  American  Archaeology, 
in  their  Report  (p.  59),  bound  the  "land  northward" 
by  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the  souths  the  Great  Lakes, 
or  Hudson's  Bay,  on  the  north,  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on 
the  east  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  west. 

But  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  "land  northward," 
or  the  present  United  States,  were  uncivilized  peoples, 
and  there  is  not  a  scrap  of  trustworthy  evidence  to  show 
that  they  had  ever  attained  to  such  a  degree  of  culture 
as  described  in  the  foregoing  description  of  Ether.  As 
proof  of  this,  I  submit  the  testimony  that  follows  : 

Nothing  more  than  the  upper  status  of  savagery  was  attained 
by    any    race    or    tribe    living    within    the    limits    of    the    present 


10 
State  of  Ohio.  All  statements  to  the  contrary  are  misrepre- 
sentations. If  we  go  by  field  testimony  alone  (not  to  omit  the 
reports  of  early  travelers  among  North  American  tribes),  we 
can  assign  primitive  man  high  attainments  in  but  few  things 
and  tliese  indicate  neither  civilization  nor  an  approach  toward 
it. — Primitive  Man  in   Ohio;  (Moorehead),  pp.   199,  200. 

Notliing  trustworthy  has  been  discovered  to  justify  the  theory 
that  the  mound  builders  belonged  to  a  highly  civilized  race,  or 
that  they  were  a  people  who  had  attained  a  higher  culture 
status  than  the  Indians.  It  is  true  that  works  and  papers  on 
American  archaeology  are  full  of  statements  to  the  contrary, 
which  are  generally  based  on  the  theory  that  the  mound  builders 
belonged  to  a  race  of  much  higher  culture  than  the  Indians. 
Yet,  when  the  facts  on  which  this  opinion  is  based  are  ex- 
amined with  sober,  scientific  care,  the  splendid  fabric  which  has 
been  built  upon  them  by  that  great  workman,  imagination,  fades 
from  sight. — Work  in  Mound  Exploration;  (Thomas),  pp.    11,  12. 

The  research  of  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years  has  put  this  sub- 
ject in  a  proper  light.  First,  the  annals  of  the  Columbian  epoch 
have  been  carefully  studied,  and  it  is  found  that  some  of  the 
mounds  have  been  constructed  in  historical  time,  while  early 
explorers  and  settlers  found  many  actually  used  by  tribes  of 
North  American  Indians;  so  we  know  many  of  them  were  build- 
ers of  mounds.  Again,  hundreds  and  thousands  of  these  mounds 
have  been  carefully  examined,  and  the  works  of  art  found 
therein  have  been  collected  and  assembled  in  museums.  At  the 
same  time,  the  works  of  art  of  the  Indian  tribes,  as  they  were 
produced  before  modification  of  European  culture,  have  been 
assembled  in  the  same  museums,  and  the  classes  of  collections 
have  been  carefully  compared.  All  this  has  been  done  with  the 
greatest  painstaking,  and  the  mound  builders'  arts  and  the  In- 
dians' arts  are  found  to  be  substantially  identical.  No  fragment 
of  evidence  remains  to  support  the  figment  of  theory  that  there 
was  an  ancient  race  of  the  mound  builders  superior  in  culture  to 
the  North  American  Indians.  *  *  *  It  is  enough  to  say  that  the 
mound  builders  were  the  Indian  tribes  discovered  by  white  men. 
• — Prehistoric  Man  in  America;  (Article  in  Forum  of  Jan.,  1890. 
by  Maj.  J.  W.  Powell,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Eth- 
nology). Quoted  in  Cherokees  in  Pre-Columbian  Times; 
(Thomas),  pp.  38,  39. 

For  the  most  part  the  objects  found  in  them  (the  mounds), 
from  the  rude  knife  to  the  carved  and  polished  "gorget,"  might 
have  been  taken  from  the  inmost  recesses  of  a  mound  or  picked 
up  on  the  surface  among  the  debris  of  a  recent  Indian  village, 
and  the  most  experienced  archaeologist  could  not  decide  which 
was  their  origin. — Prehistoric  America;   (Nadaillac),  p.   131. 

Since  18/9,  when  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology, 
Smithsonian  Institution,  was  organized,  more  exact 
methods  of  research  have  been  applied  to  the  solution 
of  the  problems  relating  to  North  American  archaeology, 
with  the  .result  that  many  of  the  fanciful  theories  here- 
tofore held,  have  been  fully  refuted. 


11 

ERROR   VI.      THE    BOOK    OF    MORMON    TEACHES    THAT 
THE     ANCIENT     INHABITANTS     OF      THE      UNITED 
STATES      WERE      RACES      DISTINCT      FROM      THE 
AMERICAN  INDIANS;   ARCHAEOLOGICAL  RESEARCH 
HAS      ESTABLISHED      THAT     THEY     WERE      ONLY 
TRIBES    OF   AMERICAN    INDIANS. 
According  tc  the  Book  of  Mormon,  the  first  people 
to  colonize  the  present  territory  of  the  United   States, 
was   a   company  under   the   Jaredite  king,   Omer,   who 
was  deposed  from  his  throne  by  Akish  and  was  forced 
to   flee   from   the  land  of   Moron  in   Central  America. 
Omer    settled    at    Ablom,   by   the    seashore,    which    the 
Josephite   Committee  on   American   Archaeology  locate 
where  Boston  now  stands.    He  was  afterwards  joined  by 
Nimrah,  son  of  Akish,  and  from  this  small  nucleus  and 
from   Central   America   the   Jaredites    spread   out   until 
they  covered  the  whole  face  of  the  "land  northward." 
The  Nephites  followed  the  Jaredites  and,  about  44  B.  C, 
departed    out    of    the    "land    of    Zarahemla"     (United 
States  of  Colombia),  and  coming  into  the  "land  north- 
ward," travelled  "to  an  exceeding  great  distance  inso- 
much  that   they   came   to   large   bodies   of   water" — the 
Great  Lakes— "and  many  rivers"— the  Mississippi,   etc. 
—"yea,  and  even  they  did  spread   forth  into  all  parts 
of  the  land,  into  whatever  parts  it  had  not  been  ren- 
dered   desolate,    and    without    timber,    because    of    the 
many    inhabitants" — Jaredites- "who     had     before     in- 
herited the  \2ind:'—Helaman;  2:3  (J),  ni:3-ii   (B). 

These  peoples,  we  are  told,  were  white  races,  dis- 
tinct from  the  tribes  that  afterwards  inhabited  this 
part  of  the  New  World.  But  the  mound  builders,  it  is 
now  certain,  were  only  tribes  of  North  American  In- 
dians : 

For  a  long  time  these  aboriginal  monuments  were  esteemed 
sufficient  evidence  to  prove  that  the  country  had  been  inhabited 
by  a  peculiar  race,  to  which  the  name  of  "Mound-Builders 
was  given.  We  now  know  that  these  works  were  constructed 
by  the  immediate  ancestors  of  our  American  Indians,  and  that, 
indeed,  in  the  more  southern  parts  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  as 
for  instance,  in  northern  Mississippi,  the  people  had  not  quite 
abandoned  the  mound-building  habit  when  they  came  in  con- 
tact with  the  yi\\\\.cs.— Nature  and  Man  in  America;  (Sfujler). 
p.   182. 

For  a  long  time  it  was  believed  by  a  great  many  persona, 
scientific  and  otherwise,  that  these  piles  of  earth,  often  called 
pyramids  quite  erroneously,  could  not  have  been  made  by  ordi- 
nary Amerinds,  but  as  the  study  of  the  native  American  pro- 
ceeded and  the  data  of  what  he  did  and  docs  actually  do  began 
to  be  recorded,  it  was  perfectly  plain  that  it  was  not  at  all 
necessary    to    look    beyond    the    "Indian"    for    the    origin    of    the 


12 

mounds — thai  is,  beyond  the  "Indian"  as  ...  was  known  in  the 
region  where  the  mounds  occur.  U  was  found  that  he  had 
erected  mounds  after  the  arrival  of  the  whites,  and  if  he  built 
one  or  several,  he  might  have  built  all. — North  Americans  of 
Yesterday;    (Dellenbaugh),   p.    343. 

What,  it  may  be  asked,  are  we  to  believe  was  the  character 
of  the  race  to  which  for  the  purpose  of  clearness  we  have  for 
the  time  being  applied  the  term  "Mound  Builders"?  The  answer 
must  be,  they  were  no  more  nor  less  than  the  immediate  prede- 
cessors in  blood  and  culture  of  the  Indians  described  by  De 
Soto's  chronicler  and  other  early  explorers,  the  Indians  who 
inhabited  the  region  of  the  mounds  at  the  time  of  their  dis- 
covery by  civilized  men. — Prehistoric  America;  (Nadaillac),  p. 
130. 

In  view  of  these  results,  and  of  the  additional  fact  that  these 
same  Indians  are  the  only  people,  except  the  whites,  who,  so 
far  as  we  know,  have  ever  held  the  region  over  which  these 
works  are  scattered,  it  is  believed  that  we  are  fully  justified  in 
claiming  that  the  mounds  and  inclosures  of  Ohio,  like  those  in 
New  York  and  the  Gulf  States,  were  the  work  of  the  red  Indians 
of  historic  times,  or  of  their  immediate  ancestors. — Quotation 
from  Prof.   Lucien  Carr.    in  Prehistoric  America,  p.   132. 

If  the  mound  builders  were  only  tribes  of  red  Indians, 
will  the  Mormon  "Church"  kindly  come  to  the  front 
and  tell  us  where  the  evidence  is  to  be  found  that  the 
present  territory  of  the  United  States  was  formerly  in- 
habited by  civilized  races  who  built  houses  of  "cement," 
worked  the  metals,  and  did  many  other  things  indica- 
tive of  a  high  grade  of  civilization  ? 


ERROR  VII.  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  TEACHES  THAT 
THE  TREND  OF  MIGRATION  IN  NORTH  AMERICA, 
IN  ANCIENT  TIMES,  WAS  FROM  SOUTH  TO  NORTH; 
THE  TRADITIONS,  LANGUAGES  AND  CULTURE  OF 
THE  AMERICAN  TRIBES  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE 
DISCOVERY  CLEARLY  ESTABLISH  THAT  IT  WAS 
IN   THE   OPPOSITE   DIRECTION. 

The  Jaredites  are  said  to  have  landed  upon  the  east 
coast  of  Central  America  near  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Motagua  (Report  Committee  on  American  Archceology, 
(J)  pp.  6g,  70).  From  this  point  they  pressed 
northward  until  they  covered  the  present  territory  of 
the  United  States.  The  Nephites  landed  on  the  west 
coast  of  South  America  not  far  from  the  thirtieth 
degree,  south  latitude  (Report,  p.  11).  And  from  this 
point  also  spread  northzvard,  through  Colombia,  Cen- 
tral America  and  Mexico,  into  the  United   States. 

But  this  is  directly  contrary  to  the  migrational  direc- 
tion of  the  ancient  races  as  established  by  science. 
The  mound  builders,  Mexicans  and  Central  Americans 
all  entered  their  ancient  seats  from  the  north  or  north- 


13 
west.     Prof.  Cyrus  Thomas  says  of  the  movements  of 
the  tribes  of  the  United  States  in  prehistoric  times : 

So  far  as  linguistic  and  traditional  evidence  can  be  tracect, 
it  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  general  movement,  in  pre- 
historic times,  of  the  stocks  in  the  United  States,  was  toward 
the  south  and  the  southeast. — American  Archaology,  p.   157. 

On  the  migration  of  the  Mayas,  the  ancient  semi- 
civilized  people  of   Central  America,   Brinton  says : 

The  uniform  assertion  of  their  legends  is  that  the  ancestors 
of  the  stock  came  from  a  more  northern  latitude,  following 
down  the  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This  is  also  supported 
by  the  position  of  the  Huastecas,  who  may  be  regarded  as  one 
of  their  tribes  left  behind  in  the  general  migration,  and  by 
the  tradition  of  the  Nahuas  which  assigned  them  a  northern 
origin. — The   American   Race,   p.    154. 

Of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Mexico,  Nadaillac  says : 
All  these  men,  whether  Toltecs,  Chichimecs  or  Aztecs,  be- 
lieved that  their  people  came  from  the  north,  and  migrated 
southward,  seking  more  fertile  lands,  more  genial  climates,  or, 
perhaps,  driven  before  a  more  warlike  race;  one  wave  of  emi- 
gration  succeeding  another. — Prehistoric   America,   p.    13. 

The  Mayas  and  Nahuas,  or  "Toltecs,"  were  the  build- 
ers of  those  remarkable  prehistoric  cities  which  the 
Mormons  identify  with  the  cities  built  by  the  Jaredites 
and  Nephites.  Other  writers  speak  as  follows  of  the 
movements  of  the  ancient  North  Amerrcan  peoples  : 

It  results  from  the  evidences  in  our  possession  that  there  has 
existed  a  continuous  and  general  tendency  of  migration  from 
north  to  south  in  the  two  Americas. — Preadamites;  (Winchell), 
p.  395. 

The  prevailing  opinion  among  scholars  of  the  present  day, 
so  far  as  published,  appears  to  be  that  the  XahuatI  group 
originated  in,  or  at  least  came  from,  some  place  north  of  the 
known  localities  of  the  tribes  composing  the  family. — American 
Archaology ;   (Thomasj,  p.   316. 

No  reasonable  doubt  exists  but  that  the  Athapascas,  Algonkins, 
Iroquois,  Chahta-Muskokis  and  Xahuas  all  migrated  from  the 
north  or  west  to  the  regions  they  occupied. — Myths  o.f  the  New 
World;   (Brinton),   p.   47.        

ERROR  VIII.     THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  TEACHES  THAT 
THE   ANCIENT    CIVILIZED    PEOPLES    OF    THIS    CON- 
TINENT WERE   EXTERMINATED  RACES;   AMERICAN 
ANTHROPOLOGY   HAS    PROVED    BEYOND    THE   POS- 
SIBILITY  OF   A   DOUBT   THAT   THE   PEOPLES   WHO 
BUILT  THE  ANCIENT  CITIES,  MOUNDS  AND  CLIFF- 
HOUSES    OF    AMERICA    WERE    THE    VERY    TRIBES 
WHO   WERE    FOUND   HERE    BY   THE    FIRST    WHITE 
SETTLERS,     OR     THEIR     DIRECT     ANCESTORS      IN 
BOTH   BLOOD   AND   CULTURE. 
About  600  B.  C,  the  Book  of  Mormon  tells  us,  the 
Jaredites  were  all  exterminated  at  "Hill   Ramah"   (the 
same  as  the  Nephite  "Cumorah")  in  western  New  York, 


14 
with  the  exception  of  two  men,  Coriantumr,  one  of  their 
generals,  and  their  prophet,  Ether.  One  thousand  years 
afterwards,  on  the  same  field,  the  Nephites  met  a  simi- 
lar fate  and  all  perished  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
who  "dissented"  to  the  Lamanites.  Of  the  Jaredites, 
Apostle  Kelley  says : 

Before,  or  about  the  time  of,  the  arrival  of  the  two  colonies 
of  Jews  [Nephites  and  IMulekites,  C.  A.  S.]  to  the  continent, 
the  old  Jaredite  nation  had  attained  its  highest  ascendency,  de- 
teriorated and  became  extinct. — Presidency  and  Priesthood,  p. 
287,    (f). 

Of  the  two  peoples,  he  says : 

The  ancient  nations  are  extinct  *  *  *  they  were  con- 
quered, overcome  and  destroyed  by  a  wild,  ferocious  and  savage 
race  of  people,  who  spared  neither  old  nor  young,  male  nor 
female.— Ibid,  p.   292. 

But  the  romantic  end  that  has  been  attributed  to  the 
Jaredites  and  Nephites  is  all  a  myth.  While  it  is  true 
that  there  may  have  been  wars  and  pestilences  that  have 
broken  up  tribes,  and  disintegrating  mfluences  which 
have  weakened  and  overthrown  powers,  there  is  to  be 
found  not  one  bit  of  evidence  that  great,  powerful  and 
widespread  races,  such  as  the  Jaredites  and  Nephites 
are  described  to  have  been,  have  ever  been  extermin- 
ated. In  other  words,  the  facts  that  have  been  gath- 
ered in  the  field  of  anthropological  research  demonstrate 
that  the  Central  American  mound  builders  and  cliff 
dwellers  are  not  "extinct,"  "vanished"  or  "exterminated" 
races ;  for,  although  they  have  passed  through  num- 
berless governmental  and  social  changes,  they  still  exist 
in  the  various  native  American  tribes  of  today. 

I  have  already  shown  by  reliable  testimony  that  the 
mound  builders  were  only  tribes  of  American  Indians; 
I  shall  now  show,  by  the  following  quotations  from 
standard  scientific  works,  that  the  cliff  dwellers,  like- 
wise, were  only  tribes  of  the  race  now  living : 

There  is  no  warrant  whatever  for  the  old  assumption  that  the 
"cliff  dwellers"  were  a  separate  race;  and  the  cliff  dwellings 
must  be  regarded  as  only  a  phase  of  pueblo  architecture. — 16f/i 
Annual  Report.  Bureau  American  Ethnology;  (Mindeleff),  p.  191. 

The  kinship  of  the  cliff  dwellers  and  Pueblos  was  long  ago 
recognized  by  ethnologists,  both  from  resemblances  of  skulls, 
the  character  of  architecture  and  archaeological  objects  found  in 
each  class  of  dwellings. — \7th  Report,  Bureau  American  Eth- 
nology;  (Fezi'kes),  p.   532. 

I  would  emphatically  say  there  is  nothing  in  any  of  the  re- 
mains of  the  pueblos,  or  the  cliff  houses,  or  any  other  antiquities 
in  that  portion  of  our  continent,  which  compels  us  to  seek  other 
constructors    for    them    than    the    ancestors    of    the    various    tribes 


13 

which  were  found  on  the  spot  by  the  Spaniards  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  by  the  armies  of  the  United  States  in  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth.  This  opinion  is  in  accordance  with  history, 
with  the  traditions  of  the  tribes  themselves,  and  with  the  condi- 
tion of  culture  in  which  they  were  found. — The  American  Race; 
{Brinton),   p.    115. 

Directing  our  attention  now  to  still  another  region,  we  find 
in  the  Southwest  a  vast  deal  that  is  absorbingly  interesting. 
Fortunately,  the  people  were,  many  of  them,  still  there  when 
the  first  Spaniards  came  into  the  country  in  1540,  so  that  we 
have  data  to  prevent  the  attributing  the  works  found  there  to 
some  mysterious  race.  It  has  been  attempted  in  the  case  of  the 
"Cliff-dwellers,"  but  the  investigations  of  competent  ethnologists 
have  effectually  settled  that  matter,  and  checked  the  romantic 
tendency  except  in  the  case  of  a  few  who  will  not  learn. — North 
Amricans    of    Yesterday;    (Dellenbaugh),   p.    176. 

As  proof  that  the  builders  of  the  ancient  cities  of 
Central  America  were  the  same  races  that  inhabited 
that  part  of  the  country  at  the  coming  of  the  whites,  I 
submit  the  following : 

I  deem  the  grounds  sufficient,  therefore,  for  accepting  this 
Central  American  civilization  of  the  past  as  a  fact,  referring  it 
not  to  an  extinct  ancient  race,  but  to  the  direct  ancestors  of 
the  people  still  occupying  the  country  with  the  Spaniards,  and 
applying  to  it  the  name  Maya  as  that  of  the  language  which  has 
claims  as  strong  as  any  -to  be  considered  the  mother  tongue  of 
the  linguistic  family  mentioned. — Native  Races;  (Bancroft),  Vol. 
2,  p.   117. 

All  of  them  were  the  work  of  the  same  people,  or  of  nations 
"f  the  same  race,  dating  from  a  high  antiquity,  and  in  blood 
and  language  precisely  the  same  race  *  *  *  ihg,t  was  found 
in  occupation  of  the  country  by  the  Spaniards,  and  who  still 
constitute  the  great  bulk  of  the  population. — Palacio  Carta; 
Squire),  pp.   9,    10. 

The  sculptures  and  temples  of  Central  America  are  the  work 
of  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Indians. — Researches;  (Taylor), 
p.    189. 

At  the  time  of  the  conquest  the  stately  structures  of  Copan, 
Palenque,  T'Ho  and  many  other  cities  were  deserted  and  covered 
with  an  apparently  primitive  forest;  but  others  not  inferior  to 
them,  Uxmal,  Chichen  Itza,  Peten,  etc.,  were  the  centers  of 
dense  population,  proving  that  the  builders  of  both  were  identi- 
cal.— The   American  Race;    (Brinton),   p.    155. 


ERROR   IX.      THE    BOOK   OF    MORMON   TEACHES    THAT 
^  THE     ANCIENT     AMERICANS     ORIGINALLY     SPOKE 
M  THE     HEBREW      LANGUAGE;      PHILOLOGICAL      RE- 
^  SEARCH    HAS    PROVED    BEYOND    A    DOUBT    THAT 
THEY    DID    NOT,    AND    THAT    THERE     IS    NO    AF- 
FINITY   WHATEVER    BETWEEN    THE    TONGUES    OF 
THE    AMERICAN    TRIBES    AND    THE    HEBREW    OR 
ANY   OTHER   INFLECTED   OLD   WORLD   TONGUE. 
And   if  our    plates   had   been   sufficiently   large,    we   should   have 
written  in  the  Hebrew;    but  the  Hebrew  hath  been  altered  by  us 
also;    and   if   we    could    have    written   in   the   Hebrew,    behold   ye 


16 

would   have   had   no    imperfection    in    our   record. — Mormon,    4:99 
(J),   IX:33   (B). 

In  support  of  this  assertion,  the  Mormons  cite  the 
statements  of  Adair,  Boudinot  and  Priest,  among  the 
early  writers,  in  which  it  is  declared  that  the  American 
tongues  present  unmistakal^le  affinities  to  the  Hebrew. 
But,  under  later  and  more  careful  investigations,  this 
illusion  has  been  dispelled  and  it  is  now  known  that 
there  are  positively  no  marked  resemblances  between 
the  two  languages. 

The  researches  of  the  few  philologists  who  have  given  Ameri- 
can languages  their  study  have  brought  to  light  the  following 
facts:  First,  that  a  relationship  exists  among  all  the  tongues 
of  the  northern  and  southern  continents;  and  that  while  certain 
characteristics  are  found  in  common  throughout  all  the  lang- 
uages of  America,  these  languages  are  as  a  whole  sufficiently 
peculiar  to  be  distinguishable  from  the  speech  of  all  the  other 
races  of  the  world. — Native  Races;  (Bancroft),   Vol.  3,  p.   553. 

The  language  of  the  American  Indian  throws  no  light  upon 
his  origin,  except  that  that  origin  was  so  far  remote  that  all 
attempts  by  this  clue,  to  establish  a  common  center  of  human 
creation,   are   utterly   futile. — Prehistoric  Races;   (Foster),   p.    318. 

It  has  been  asked  if  our  Indians  were  not  the  wrecks  of 
more  civilized  nations.  Their  language  refutes  the  hypothesis; 
every  one  of  its  forms  is  a  witness  that  their  ancestors  were, 
like  themselves,  not  yet  disenthralled  from  nature. — History  of 
the   United  States;  (Bancroft),   Vol.   3,  p.   265. 

No  theories  of  derivation  from  the  Old  World  have  stood  the 
test  of  grammatical  construction.  All  traces  of  the  fugitive 
tribes  of  Israel,  supposed  to  be  found  here,  are  again  lost. — 
Quotation  from  Hayden,   in  Prehistoric  Races,  p.   319. 

As  the  American  languages  have  no  affinity  with  the  Teutonic 
or  Semitic  stocks,  it  is  evident  that  the  source  or  sources  from 
which  they  came  far  antedate  the  birth  of  the  oldest  people  of 
which  history  takes  cognizance.  Man  must  therefore  have  set 
foot  on  American  soil  before  the  sprouting  of  the  linguistic 
twig  which,  after  millenniums,  produced  the  cuneiform  inscrip- 
tions of  ancient  Persia  and  Assyria. — North  America;  (Russell), 
p.    360. 

No  authentic  trace  of  any  Old-World  language  thus  far  has 
been  found  on  this  continent.  North  Americans  of  Yesterday; 
(Dellcnbaugh),  p.   428. 

Instead  of  the  Hebrew,  the  Basque  of  France  comes 
the  nearest  to  the  American  tongues  in  its  structure. 
The  Encyclopedia  Britannica  says  of  the  Indian  lan- 
guages : 

They  come  nearest  in  structure  to  the  Basque,  which  is  the 
only  incorporating  language  of  the  Old  World. 

Says  Dellenbaugh  : 

While  the  Basque  more  nearly  resembles  the  Amerind  lang- 
uages than  does  any  other  Old  World  tongue,  it  stops  short  of 
the  incorporating  power  of  that  of  the  Amerinds. — North  Ameri- 
cans of    Yesterday,  p.   22. 


17 

The  lists  of  Hebro-Indian  comparisons  that  are 
found  in  a  number  of  Mormon  works  are  without  any 
value  whatever,  as,  in  a  number  of  instances,  it  has 
been  found  that  both  the  Hebrew  and  Indian  words 
have  been  changed  to  make  their  resemblance  more 
apparent!  (See  my  Cumorah  Revisited,  Chapter  IX, 
for  a  full  exposure  of  this  trick.) 


ERROR  X.  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  TEACHES  THAT 
ANCIENT  AMERICAN  CIVILIZATION  WAS  EXOTIC; 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INVESTIGATION  HAS  ESTAB- 
LISHED THAT  IT  WAS  PURELY  INDIGENOUS  AND 
OWED  NOTHING  TO  THE  OLD  WORLD. 

Of  the  Jaredites,  Apostle  Kelley  says : 

They  brought  with  them  the  civilization,  the  arts,  sciences, 
habits,  customs,  traditions  and  languages  of  their  day  and  time. 
— Presidency   and  Priesthood,  p.   258. 

In  opposition  to  this  assertion,  I  submit  the  following 
convincing  and  irrefutable  testimonies  from  leading 
scientific  men : 

The  more  we  study  them  (the  American  monuments)  the 
more  we  find  it  necessary  to  believe  that  the  civilization  they 
represent  was  originated  in  America,  and  probably  in  the  region 
where  they  are  found.  It  did  not  come  from  the  Old  World; 
it  was  the  work  of  some  remarkably  gifted  branch  of  the  race 
found  on  the  southern  part  of  this  continent  when  it  was  dis- 
covered in  1492.  Undoubtedly  it  was  very  old.  Its  original 
beginning  may  have  been  as  old  as  Egypt,  or  even  farther  back 
in  the  past  than  the  ages  to  which  Atlantis  must  be  referred; 
and  it  may  have  been  later  than  the  beginning  of  Egypt.  Who 
can  certainly  tell  its  age?  Whether  earlier  or  later,  it  was 
original. — Ancient   America;   (Baldwin),    p.    184. 

We  seek  then  in  vain  for  any  analogies  in  art  which  would  con- 
nect the  civilization  of  this  country  with  that  of  the  Old  World. 
That  art  was  not  derived  from  a  remote  source;  it  was  the  out- 
growth of  a  people  domesticated  to  the  soil. — Prehistoric  Amer- 
ica;  (Foster),   p.   330. 

The  most  competent  observers  are  agreed  that  American  art 
bears  the  indisputable  stamp  of  its  indigenous  growth.  Those 
analogies  and  identities  which  have  been  brought  forward  to 
prove  its  Asiatic  or  European  or  Polynesian  origin,  whether  in 
myth,  folk-lore  or  technical  details,  belong  wholly  and  only  to 
the  uniform  development  of  human  culture  under  similar  con- 
ditions. This  is  their  true  anthropological  interpretation,  and 
we  need  no  other. — Myths  of  the  New  World;  (Brinton),  pp. 
33,   34.  

ERROR  XI.  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  TEACHES  THAT 
THE  NEPHITES  UNDERSTOOD  THE  WRITTEN 
LANGUAGE  OF  EGYPT;  A  CAREFUL  COMPARISON 
OF  THE  GRAPHIC  SYSTEMS  OF  AMERICA  AND 
EGYPT  REVEALS  THE  FACT  THAT  THE  GRAPHIC 
SYSTEMS  OF  THE  TWO  COUNTRIES  ARE  NOT 
EVEN  SIMILAR. 
I   make  a  record   in  the   language  of  my   father,   which   consists 

of  the  learning  of  the  Jews   and   the  language    of  the  Egyptians. 

— 1   Nephi;  1:1   (J).  1:2   (B). 


18 

And  now  behold,  we  have  written  this  record  according  to 
our  knowledge  in  the  characters,  which  are  called  among  us 
the  reformed  Egyptian,  being  handed  down  and  altered  by  us, 
according  to  our  manner  of  speech. — Mormon;  4:98  (J),  IX:32 
(B). 

As  confirmatory  of  this,  the  Mormons  have  asserted 
that  Prof.  LePlongeon  discovered  the  "Ancient  Maya 
Hieratic  Alphabet"  and  that  a  great  number  of  its  char- 
acters resemble  those  of  the  Eg>'ptian.  Now,  it  is  true 
that  Prof.  LePlongeon  did  produce  an  alphabet  from 
the  Maya  hieroglyphics,  closely  resembling  the  Egyp- 
tian, which  he  claimed  was  the  "key"  that  unlocked  the 
mysteries  of  ancient  Maya  writing.  But,  has  this 
alphabet  demonstrated  its  correctness  and  value?  It 
most  emphatically  has  not ;  and,  after  having  been  before 
the  scientific  world  for  thirty  or  more  years,  it  is  now 
absolutely  rejected  by  scholars,  as  have  also  been  the 
alphabets  of  Landa,  De  Rosny,  Cresson  and  Rouchefou- 
cauld.  If  the  reader  wishes  to  carry  this  inquiry  fur- 
ther, I  suggest  that  he  read  Brinton's  "A  Primer  of 
Mayan  Hieroglyphics"  and  "Essays  of  an  Americanist;" 
also  consulting  the  Bulletins  and  Reports  of  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology,   Smithsonian   Institution. 

Scholars  are  now  pretty  generally  agreed  that  an- 
cient American  writing  was  indigenous  in  its  origin  and 
development  and  owed  nothing,  whatever,  to  any  influ- 
ence from  the  other  hemisphere.  This  will  be  seen 
from  the  following  quotations : 

The  American  hieroglyphics  contain  no  element  to  prove  their 
foreign  origin,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  look  upon  them  as 
other  than  the  result  of  original  native  development. — Native 
Races;  (Bancroft),   Vol.   2,  p.   551. 

Notwithstanding  the  oft-repeated  assertion  that  a  resemblance 
between  Egyptian  and  Maya  hieroglyphics  exists,  no  one  of  the 
Egyptologists,  so  successful  in  their  chosen  field,  has  been  able 
to  decipher  the  Maya  writing. — North  Americans  of  Antiquity; 
(Short),   /).    418. 

So  far  as  now  (1900  A.  D.)  understood,  there  is  no  relation- 
ship between  any  kind  of  Amerindian  writing  and  that  of  other 
races.  Like  everything  else  pertaining  to  the  Amerind  people, 
the  development  appears  to  have  been  purely  indigenous. — North 
Americans   of   Yesterday;   (Dellenbaugh),   p.   80. 

Prof.  Cyrus  Thomas,  one  of  the  most  accomplished 
students  of  Maya  writing  who  has  ever  lived,  says  of 
the  characters  of  that  system: 

The  more  I  study  these  characters  the  stronger  becomes  the 
conviction  that  they  have  grown  out  of  a  pictographic  system 
similar  to  that  common  among  the  Indians  of  North  America. 
— Quoted  in  the  Discovery  of  America;   (Fiske),   Vol.   1,  p.  132. 


19 
ERROR  XII.     THE   BOOK  OF   MORMON   TEACHES   THAT 
THE    LAMANITES    (THE    AMERICAN    INDIANS)    OR- 
IGINALLY    BELIEVED     IN     THE     EXISTENCE     OF    A 
'•GREAT    SPIRIT;"    RESEARCH    HAS    CONCLUSIVELY 
PROVED   THAT  THIS   DEITY  WAS  WHOLLY  AN   IN- 
VENTION    OF     THE     WHITE     MISSIONARY     AFTER 
THE  DISCOVERY   BY   COLUMBUS. 
And   then   Ammon    said,    Believest   thou   that   there   Is   a   Great 
Spirit?      And    he    said,    Yea.      And    Ammon    said.    This    is    God. 
And  Ammon  said  unto  him  again,   Believest  thou  that  this  Great 
Spirit,   who   is    God,   created   all   things   which   are   in   heaven   and 
in   the   earth?      And   he   said.    Yea,    I   believe   that   he   created   all 
things  which   are  in   the  earth;   but   I   do   not  know  the  heavens. 
—Alma;  12:103-107   (J),  XVIII :26-29   (B). 

But  the  original  words  for  "God"  in  all  the  American 
tongues  do  not  express  the  idea  of  personality,  but 
simply  and  only,  the  idea  of  the  supernatural  in  general, 
the  mysterious,  the  incomprehensible,  the  unknown ; 
and  have  been  variously  translated,  "god,"  "spirit," 
"heaven,"  "medicine,"  "hell"  and  the  like.  When  the 
missionary  appeared  upon  the  scene,  he  found  that  this 
word,  or  these  words,  were  not  definite  enough  to  ex- 
press the  Idea  of  the  Divine  Personality,  so  he  invented 
the  term,  "Great  Spirit."  As  proof  that  the  "Great 
Spirit"  was  not  originally  the  god  of  the  red  man.  I 
submit  the  following: 

Of  monotheism,  either  as  displayed  in  the  one  personal,  defi- 
nite Gcd  of  the  Semitic  races,  or  in  the  pantheistic  sense  of  the 
Brahmins,  there  was  net  a  single  instance  en  the  American 
continent. — Myths   of   the  New   World;   (Brinton),   p.    69. 

In  no  Indian  language  could  the  early  missionaries  find  a 
word  to  express  the  idea  of  God.  Manitou  and  Oki  meant  any- 
thing endowed  with  supernatural  powers,  from  a  snake  skin  or 
a  greasy  Indian  conjurer  up  to  ]\Ianabozho  and  Jouskeha. — The 
Jesuits  in  North  America;   (Parkman),   p.   79. 

The  "Great  Spirit,"  so  popularly  and  poetically  known  h% 
the  god  of  the  red  man,  and  the  "Happy  Hunting-ground,"  gen- 
erally reported  to  be  the  Indian's  idea  of  a  future  state,  are 
both  of  them  but  their  ready  conception  of  the  white  man's 
God  and  Heaven.  This  is  evident  from  a  careful  study  of  their 
past  as  gleaned  from  the  numerous  myths  of  their  prehistoric 
existence. — 2nd  Report  Bureau  American  Ethnology;  (Erminie 
A.    Smith),   pp.    52,    53. 

Nations  with  civilized  institutions,  art  with  palaces,  mon- 
otheism as  the  worship  of  the  Great  Spirit,  all  vanish  from  the 
priscan  condition  of  North  America  in  the  light  of  anthropo- 
logic research.  Tribes  with  the  social  institutions  of  kinship, 
art  with  its  highest  architectural  development  exhibited  in  the 
structure  of  communal  dwellings,  and  polytheism  in  the  worship 
of  mythic  animals  and  nature-gods,  remain. — \st  Report  Bureau 
American  Ethnology;   (Poiijell),   p.   69. 

They  had  no  understanding  of  a  single  "Great  Spirit"  till 
the  Europeans,  often  unconsciously,  informed  them  of  their  own 
belief. — North  Americans  of   Yesterday;  (Dellenhaugh),  p.  375. 


20 

Instead  of  a  "Great  Spirit,"  the  Indians  originally  i 
worshiped  spirits,  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  sea,  any  awe- 
inspiring  work  of  nature,  and  deified  animals  and  men. 
For  a  further  consideration  of  this  subject,  see  my! 
Cumorah  Revisited  (Chapter  VIII)  and  Brinton's] 
Myths  of  the  New  World. 


\ 


CONCLUSION. 
Reader,  the  leaders  of  the  Latter-day  Saints  havej 
been  wont  to  boast  that  American  anthropology  is  cer- 
tainly and  surely  proving  their  claims.  But,  unless 
themselves  deluded,  they  have  simply  played  upon  4'ie 
ignorance  of  the  general  public  about  such  matters. 
Scientific  investigation  tells  an  entirely  different  story 
about  the  ancient  American  races  from  that  found  in- 
scribed upon  the  pages  of  the  Book  of  Alormon.  The  'e 
is  no  agreement  between  the  two.  The  Book  of  .<>.  > 
mon  is  based  upon  theories  in  vogue  in  1830  and  has  but 
little  in  common  with  the  facts  known  In  1916.  Much 
of  the  Mormon  "evidence"  comes  from  the  works  of 
men  who  wrote  nearly  a  hundred  years  ago,,  and  whose 
theories  were  never  generally  accepted.  Some  of  it 
comes  from  the  works  of  men  who  wrote  forty  or  fifty 
years  ago,  who  then  stood  high  in  the  scientific  world, 
and  whose  theories  were  then  plausible,  viewed  in  the 
light  of  the  data  then  obtainable,  but  which  have  since 
been  refuted  by  deeper  archaeological  investigation.  But 
still  more  of  it  comes  from  "yellow  journalism"  and 
similar  sources.  It  is  astonishing  with  what  ease  Mor- 
monism  swallows  any  story  that  smacks  of  mystery,  no 
matter  how  preposterous  the  story  may  be  or  how 
much  of  scientific  condemnation  there  may  be  against 
it.  For  years  it  has  flaunted  before  the  public  the  noto- 
rious archaeological  frauds,  the  "Kinderhook  Plates'* 
and  the  "Newark  Tablets,"  as  proof  that  the  ancient 
Americans  had  an  hieroglyphical  system  of  writing;  yet 
both  of  these  frauds  were  fully  exposed  fifty,  or  more,  ^^f\ 
years  ago.  From  the  facts  that  are  given  in  the  fore- 
going pages,  it  will  be  readily  seen  how  utterly  at  vari- 
ance Uie  Book  of  Mormon  and  American  archccolouy 
are.  Across  its  claim  of  historical  credibility  and  divin 
inspiration  must  be  written  the  word  "TEKEL,"  "thoi 
art  weighed  in  the  balances  and  art  found  wanting/^ 
February,  1916. 


PHOTOMOUNT 
PAMPHLET  BINDER 

PAT.    NO. 
877188 

Manufactured  by 

;GAYL0RD  BROS.  Inc. 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

Stockton,  Calif. 


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